Wood Fired Ceramics by Bill Perrine (Split-Fire Pottery)

Hi everyone,It's getting closer to that firing time. I have been creating a huge amount of work for the last few months! And with the Spring equinox arriving today, a reminder that warmer weather is just around the corner. Not that I haven't fired in cold times, but I find cool air with a rising barometer fires better.

Last night I finished assembling three small' chocolate colored kyusus that I had created the parts for the day before. These are going to be similar to the color of the Tully clay. I think this clay will look great in contrast to the shinos and glazes I use where I leave exposed clay, or "naked clay" we call it. After they stiffen up, I can cut and fit the curves together and score and slip them together.

I have another bisque load to empty this morning and the glazing can begin.

I have a new additional direction for tea caddies.

and you can see the different clay bodies in bisque here.

I'm very excited to try the best from the past in larger quantities. I have slowed down on the experimenting so much and now sticking with the best colors/combinations. I do have two new variations to put in with this firing but not the usual bigger assortment of test pieces. Time to "streamline" as I enter into this full time mode. Cheers,Bill

Thanks for the kind words Poseidon,This is an example of a nice matching set. They were a custom order. I have cup shapes that match the kyusus and I was going to make some turquoise sets anyways, maybe you'll like them. Keeping my fingers crossed that they come out well. The turquoise pieces are limited and there are limited zones in the kiln where they can go. They need particular conditions. Not too much reduction, not too little, not too hot, not too cool... you get the idea. It's like waterfront property, there's only just so much.I'll keep everyone posted though the firing as always.Bill

Today's lesson: kyusu making 101,I made my smallest kyusu to date! ... a three ouncer, four at the most. This is a challenge for me as I have "fat finger syndrome". I took some pictures of some of the steps during the process.

First you make a bunch of parts (this may include several attempts):

Then you trim the opening and lid to fit and trim the lid's knob, cut out the foot on the bottom, eyeball/sketch/make your cut and fit the spout:

A little trimming here and there:

Cut some strainer holes (they haven't been cleaned up yet) in the indented part and score and slip:

Slap the spout on and choose, cut and add a handle in the right spot and cut the spout tip's angle:

Loosely cover so everything evens out and dries together with out cracking. Bisque fire. Approximately 6% shrinkage so far...

Now don't screw up the glazing, hit it with wood during the firing or even make it fall over and stick to the shelf, or make it crack by firing it too fast... Approximately 7-8% more shrinkage now... 13-14% total

Resist removing it from the kiln too early or for that matter opening the kiln too soon (three days seems to take forever!!) until it's cool enough. Grind off the wads and sand smooth. Easy - peasy.... Cheers, Bill

debunix wrote:Long time*, no lesson: hope that's because a wonderfully busy and successful firing is in progress, or someone's new baby is visiting, or something else wonderful and fun.

*Ok, just a few days, really, but curious here....

Hi Debunix,Well its been wonderful and fun around here for sure. Let's see, had a colonoscopy on Monday, a tooth pulled yesterday, Tuesday, today I spent an hour and thirty five minutes on the phone with AT&T to find out why my laptop connect air card thing wasn't connecting since last Friday (explains my lack of updates) now, as you can see from my post here, I'm back up and running. My Sierra Wireless air card's IMEI number got screwed up when my youngest son got a replacement phone on last Friday.As for pottery, I made up eight batches of glaze, two new ones and six refills for the buckets getting low, sieved all of them to get any salt crystals, chunks or debris out.Gotta go take my mom out for her birthday. Pictures tonight.